Burnt Keys
by thecagedsong
Summary: A late comer to Nalu week. I had these stories up before but I noticed an important part was missing from chapter 1.
1. Chapter 1

Gifts

Natsu always discovered the gifts she was planning on giving him, and it irritated the hell out of Lucy. Every Christmas and birthday, his present senses would start to tingle and it was impossible to surprise him. It didn't help that he was nearly impossible to shop for on top of everything. Lucy had never heard him ask for something she could give him, he was simply the most content being on the planet.

All of her attempts failed at surprising him. The prank kit she got him last Christmas he had already opened and used to prank her when she walked into her house that night, the book on dragon legends he found two nights after she got it (three before his 'birthday'), and the home-made jalapeno cookies for his first birthday were half eaten before she finished wrapping them. He was always thankful, claimed he loved her presents, but it was never a surprise.

Well, Christmas was coming up again, and even if it killed her, that boy was going to be surprised. She had spent weeks tracking down an old friend who owed her a favor, hours agonizing over getting every detail right, and now she just had to hide it for the next three days. In addition, she knew just where to put it.

Lucy, after picking up her gift alone, stood in front of the guild carrying several shopping bags and proceeded to show off her acting skills.

"ERZA!" She yelled, dashing into the guild. Few people turned to stare at her, but honestly, walking in quietly draws a whole lot more attention than someone running in screaming, it was how their guild worked.

"Erza! The Heart Knuetz Boutique just got their spring line in, you NEED to come check it out. There was a super cute outfit that not only goes perfectly with your hair, but also comes only in your size! Hurry up!" Lucy yanked on the re-quip mage's arm. Suddenly Erza was the one pulling Lucy out of the guild and towards the local shop with sparkles in her eyes, and it took all of Lucy's balance just to keep the gifts in her shopping bags from falling out as they dashed across town.

Eventually the two made it to the shop and Lucy pointed out the outfit she was talking freaking out about. (She needed to get Erza alone, but she was not dumb enough to lie to get her there, also, she liked being girly with her.) The two girls did a little fashion show, and Lucy was right, the dress was a forest green that went perfectly with her skin, eyes, and hair. Lucy hadn't even known that the fabric had thin metal plates inside the cloth, but it made Erza super happy. Now she could look pretty, casual, and still be equipped to the nines.

Walking back, and finding a lull in their outfit gushing, Lucy brought up the topic of hiding Natsu's gift.

"Hey Erza, can I ask a favor?" Lucy said nervously, a wizard's re-quip space was actually a pretty personal thing.

Erza looked at her for a moment, before deciding her answer with a grim smile, "Of course Lucy, who is it that needs to die?"

Lucy's mouth dropped open before she screeched out, "That's not it at all!"

"Oh, that what most people want from me so I just assumed…" there was an awkward silence, but Lucy just had to ask.

"Do…you usually say yes?"

"Nope, but there are about five people on this earth I would kill someone for, and three of them are too cocky to ever think about asking for help." Lucy could easily figure out who she was talking about, and she was flattered to be considered that important to Erza.

"I love you too Erza," Lucy said with a grin and a one-armed hug, the other arm was full of shopping bags, "But what I wanted to ask was if you could hide Natsu's Christmas gift in your re-quip space. I haven't ever been able to surprise him, but I want this year to be different. Even if he finds out where I hid it, he won't be able to get it if it's in your armory."

"Of course I'll hide it for you, Natsu's face is hilarious when someone manages to surprise him. Let's drop your stuff off at your apartment and you can give it to me there."

"Actually, can we go to Fairy Hills first? I have a feeling Natsu is already at my house," Lucy groaned, thinking of all the times she searched all of Magnolia for him and he turned out to be in her bed. Erza agreed and the plan was set.

Natsu was highly suspicious. When doing his usual 'raid Lucy's house during her hour long bath' he had found a present for Erza, Wendy, Gray, Cana, Juvia, Mira, and Levy, all clearly already wrapped and labeled, but there wasn't a present for him. He knew Lucy was mad about the whole 'punching her out of her own bed in his sleep' thing, but it wasn't enough to warrant not getting a Christmas gift. Lucy never got that mad, and she loved to give things! She was also really, really good at it! (Seriously, who would have thought to get Juvia an embroidery manual and materials, but Juvia is really craftsy and is going to love it! She even included a note that said she has the same fabric and would love to learn about it with her.)

But she hadn't let anything slip to Happy, there were no more hiding spots in her house, and all her other gifts were there. He even found some self-enchanted fishing lures for Happy, though they hadn't been wrapped yet. Where was his gift? There is no possible way she could have forgotten about him right?

Natsu sat pondering it, only becoming gloomier and gloomier the more he thought. He didn't even notice when the last fifteen minutes of her bath time slipped away and she left the bathroom fully dressed.

"Natsu, get off my bed and out of my room. Shopping was exhausting, not only did Erza and I raid three different stores, I found the perfect gifts for everyone. I fell asleep in the bathtub, now just let me sleep." As she finished talking she yawned and not so gently shoved him onto the floor before crawling under the covers.

"But, Luuuuucccyyy! You didn't get a gift for everyone, you forgot me!" Natsu whined childishly. Now, Natsu wasn't materialistic in the least, but objects were had value based on the meaning behind them, that's why he collected so many momentums. You could not receive a gift from Lucy and not feel the love and effort she put into making them. Seriously, the quality of gifts in the guild went up all around as everyone tried to give as good gifts as Lucy did.

He wanted a gift from her, and when she didn't respond, Natsu had no choice but to tug on her arm until she woke up and told him where is gift was.

"GO AWAY!" Lucy yelled, livid. She was cranky and Natsu hit her last nerve.

"I'm your best friend and you didn't get me a Chirstmas present!" Natsu insisted. Lucy showed exactly how much she appreciated his sentiment by punching him so that he flew out of her window.

"Stay out! Your present is somewhere you will never ever find it!" Lucy yelled as she slammed her window closed and locked it. Natsu was cheered up by the fact that she hadn't forgotten him, but pouted at the fact that he was going to have to wait longer until he found it.

Over the next few days Natsu searched everywhere for her hiding place, but all she did was smirk and claim he was never going to find it. He even cleaned his house hoping she had hid it under his own dirt certain that he would never look there. Finally, the gift exchange at the guild during Christmas Eve happened, and he started pouting whenever Lucy smirked at him. She gave Cana a copy-cat card, it turned you invisible and created a copy of you for escapes from Daddy dearest, Erza got a poker set as well as a few scenes from her novel (take a guess at which ones.) Gray got tickets to a concert of a band they both loved, and Levy got kitty stationary set that spell checked for you.

"Okay Lucy, now can I have my present? You've given everyone else there's." Natsu said, excitement leaking into his voice. Lucy looked at him as if considering, and Natsu was ready to beg for it when she smiled.

"Alright, tis the season you little sneak. I told you would never find it. Oi! Erza, it's time." Lucy called out, and Natsu watched confused as the red head made her way over to the two of them.

"Okay Lucy, mind if I watch?" Erza asked. A still confused Natsu watched Erza create the light circle for her magic and let his jaw drop when instead of pulling a sword out of her re-quip space, a small box rested in her hand. The rest of guild was gushing about the gifts they had received, or at least they were.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME? YOU CHEATED!" Natsu practically screamed, drawing everyone's attention towards himself. Lucy and Erza were laughing at him, as was Happy. When they quieted down she took the gift from Erza's palm and offered it to him.

"But isn't this gift even more special now that you had to wait for it? You really want this gift because of all those hours you spent searching." Natsu stopped pouting and the entire guild watched curiously, as he took the gift gently and unwrapped it. Lucy was starting to get nervous as the entire guild watched Natsu unwrap her gift, she knew it was a good gift, but it was also kind of a personal one. Natsu didn't notice as he reached in and felt something warm.

He pulled it out and couldn't stop staring. It was a miniature dragon, an exact replica of his father Igneel. The wings were proportioned just right, the dusky red of his spine melting into the bright red of his sides until it reached the light pink before becoming the yellow of his belly and wings, and the teeth just like he remembered. That wasn't even the best part, all the dragon statues he had ever come across had angry, fierce dragons, but this special statue had a kind expression. It's eyes were full of love and compassion. It was the look Igneel had when he had told Natsu that no matter what he did, he would always be proud of his son. Natsu couldn't look away.

Lucy started to panic after about thirty seconds of Natsu staring at her gift, "So yeah, remember that night I made you describe every single detail of Igneel and I took notes in order to put a dragon into my book? I lied, Dragons don't fit into my plot line at all. You had said you were worried that you were starting to forget Igneel, so I used those notes and tracked down an old friend that specialized in metamorphic magic and she helped me create the statue. You know, so you can remember what he looks like until we find him…It's okay if you don't like it, or I got something wrong. I'm sor—" Before she could finish speaking Natsu threw his arms around her and pulled her in for a tight hug, one he had no intention of releasing, ever. Mosof the guild was touched by the scene, and for the first time in guild history, everyone agreed to not ruin a moment and let their family have their privacy.

"Thank you Lucy," Natsu managed to say, doing his best not to cry. This gift had been worth the wait, and this person worth more than the price of every gift given that Christmas combined. He silently thanked every star, spirit, god, and magic for giving him the gift of Lucy Heartphilia of Fairy Tail.


	2. Chapter 2

Igneel couldn't believe it when his son jumped over a lava pit holding a blond girl in his arms and an exceed on his head to land right in front of his cave.

"NATSU! What have you done? Go back." Igneel scolded.

"Nah, don't feel like it," he said with a grin, releasing the girl. One whiff of her and he knew he was standing in front of a celestial mage, and the blonde hair gave her away as a mage of the Heartphilia line. The Angel line was the only other living group if Igneel remembered, the Blacksky and Nightstar lineages dying out a couple hundred years ago. Enough of that, Natsu needed to get himself and the girl out of there.

"I gave you an order you brat, leave," Igneel snarled.

"Nope," Natsu replied cheekily, but before Igneel could remind him about dragon fire the celestial mage hit him on the chest.

"Stop being rude Natsu. Igneel, we know the deal you made with Zeref and we took care of it. Through a long and convoluted turn of events, he was reborn as a magic-less child that our friend Mirajane is raising as her own. You don't have to stay out of the world anymore, the deal is off." Wait, really? He always expected Natsu to be the one to finish the deal, no matter how Metalicana bragged, but he was expecting a few more years at least.

The celestial maiden took a deep breath and stepped forward, one hand raised cautiously.

"I, Lucy of the Stars, contractor of spirits and keeper of oaths, judge of the heavens and friend of the Fairies, do hereby call your oath fulfilled and dispel your bindings. Fire Dragon King Igneel, you have been faithful to your word and the watching stars would like to reward you. One favor may be granted unto you in addition to your freedom as decreed by the King of the Heavans. So it has been said, so shall it be." Igneel watched the girl through her speech and took notice of the power building at her words. When she finished, the chain that had encircled him all these long years crumbled into dust. He flexed his back leg before letting out a roar that filled the sky.

Without hesitation, he pounced forward and tossed his son, the Exceed Natsu was holding, and his savior into the sky. The maiden shrieked while Natsu whooped before he caught them on his back. With both young adults yelling in delight Igneel smiled, finally Igneel had his family again.

They spent a week reconnecting after Igneel's first release, and the Dragon wondered why his son never showed the human displays of affection towards his mate. They didn't sleep next to each other, never kissed, never bathed together, and never held hands. Igneel had a lot more subtly than other dragons gave him credit for, and he had found the perfect way to bring up the topic.

"So Lucy, seeing as how you're now my daughter-in-law, would you like a scarf similar to Natsu's? I get the feeling bulky winter wear isn't your style though. You prefer more subtle accessories, perhaps a dragon scale ribbon for you to always wear in your hair? I can tint it pink for you so that it will always match your guild mark. White does go with everything though, except your blond hair. That definitely needs some color. Would you like pink or red my dear?" Igneel watched the blonde look at him dumbstruck, probably at his fashion prowess. People always assumed that dragons have no need for things like fashion, but please, why should people go through life looking hideous? Dragons also see color much more vividly than humans do, and a poorly dressed human was just the biggest and most easily preventable eyesore. Who did you think taught Natsu?

"S-Sorry Igneel, what do you mean by daughter-in-law? Natsu and I are just friends. " That was what she was so hung up over? Wasn't it obvious that Natsu loved her, his son was never tender with anyone, he's still as destructive as the day Igneel had to leave, everything got destroyed by him except for her. Igneel did teach Natsu about mates, and the humans had to have filled in any blanks the kid might have had, so that left only one option. Natsu hadn't told her anything.

"NATSU!" he roared, summoning his son from the river he had gone to fish in.

"Sup' Pops," Natsu said, entering the clearing.

"Why have you not told my future daughter how you feel? Why is she under the impression that you are not in love with her. YOU IDIOT! I raised you to be smarter than that! You will never find a girl like her again, one willing to travel halfway across the world for you and put up with your antics. You will tell her about being your mate and that is final. You have until I come back with dinner." Glaring at his now pale looking son, Igneel spread his wings and launched himself into the sky.

When he came back to the cave Lucy was sitting in Natsu's lap and both looked extraordinarily happ1y. Good, Lucy was the perfect daughter, and now Natsu could be happy with his mate.

"So Igneel, can I have a ribbon in pink?" Igneel smiled and nodded to his daughter, blowing on her to show affection.

"Of course, anything for my soon to be daughter-in-law but, please call me something more casual, Dad would be great!" She jumped off her mate's lap and hugged him, while he made sure to congratulate himself on finding Natsu a perfect match.

Igneel ended up making Lucy a red, pink, and blue scale ribbons. With the ribbions came certain magical protections he would never want her to live without and the colors gave her the ability to always wear the ribbon, without style having to suffer.

Fashion was important you know.


	3. It's all about to break

Lucy knew Natsu was not okay. After he pulled that stunt with stealing the kings crown, everyone assumed that he was back to normal, but he wasn't. He was desperate to show people that he was normal, because if it was okay for Natsu to brush off the tramatic events, it was okay for everyone to brush off the events.

Lucy could hear him crowing about being king, but it all rang false. This wasn't the happy guy that dragged her to the tallest building in Crocus and took turns with her spitting gum off of the roof. This was a desperate man trying to be that guy for the sake of his friends. And she didn't know what to do.

In one of her father's letters he had joked, "After all, what does a man have other than his fake reputation," and Natsu was clinging desperately to his. It can't be good for Natsu, having the pressure of the guild's emotions on his shoulders, but did she have the right to crack it for him? Would it be doing him a favor to tell him she didn't believe he was okay for one moment and try to share the burden, or would it only make him unable to continue coping. He has helped everyone in so many ways; Lucy with her father, Erza with Jellal, and Gray with Ur's death, did she have the right to tell him he can't keep it up?

Yes, she did. It would be repayment for everything he has already done for the guild. But not now, she would let him heal privately for a while, let him keep up appearences in front of the guild. In a couple of weeks, when everything was back to normal and the three of them would be out on a job together, she would challenge him. She could tell he would break soon, but Lucy would force him to break before he would have to put of this façade again. There should be a break before anyone else decided to destroy the world, right? Lucy would give him three weeks before confronting him.

Only Lucy didn't get those three weeks. A month had passed before she and Natsu even went on a job together again. With the guild's new popularity people were sending in requests for specific members, and while Lucy had gone on a job with Cana and another Erza, she and Natsu hadn't had the time together she was hoping for. Then all five of them were out on a mission and Lucy was going to confront him before they fell asleep, but after the hot springs, and that plan fell through. She just couldn't bring up bad memories after being so happy with everyone that night.

Then the Thunder legion and Magic Council were attacked and everything went back into fast forward mode. She could see Natsu putting up walls against what he was really feeling again and it scared her. The wall had more cracks than before.

Now here they were, Lucy was on the edge of death again, Gray was being screwed over by Deliora again, Wendy was a mess from her battle and no longer looked like their precious little girl, and Lucy knew that Natsu needed his façade. When he looked at her, there was panic in his eyes, he was so close to breaking. She mentally cursed herself for not having the guts to confront Natsu before this happened again, now all she could do was support the mask and pray that it wouldn't break before this ended.

So when he told her to let him handle everything, instead of insisting, she backed off and put all her hope and faith into one last smile.

"Okay Natsu," she didn't know if it was the right choice, if her faith would only cause him to break even more or was the push he needed to hold himself together just a little bit longer. Right now it was the only thing she was physically capable of doing to help him keep going. Later, when they came out of this alive, she would hold a vulnerable Natsu in her arms and be his strength, just like he was hers.


	4. Dare

**Dare**

As far as dares go, this one was creative. Each Fairy Tail girl had been given a dare and they needed to have proof of completion by the tonight. Those who failed were knocked out of the competition for Most Daring Female Fairy, and day one dares were easy. All she had to do was have a philosophical conversation with Natsu and Happy. It had taken a while to figure out which topic to talk about, it had to be something Natsu couldn't make a snap judgment on and end, and she hoped she had made a good choice.

"Hey Natsu, have you ever heard of a philosopher called Plato?" she asked as they were lazing about the guild. She had set up a recording lacrima for her proof.

"Philo-what-its?"

"A philosopher, someone who thinks about how the world works, they are usually very wise. Plato was a very famous one." Natsu had his chin resting on his folded arms, but he seemed willing to talk.

"A wise man huh? Who gets to decide that one person is wiser than another?" Wait, that was a philosophical question, this was going to be so much easier than she thought. Lucy considered her answer carefully.

"The general public I guess, or yourself. Philosophers publish their works so other people can benefit from how they think the world works, if people agree that the book rings true, then that man is wise." Natsu snorted.

"But people in general are stupid and only hear and like the things that make them feel better about themselves. Plenty of people think I'm stupid because I'm impulsive and it makes them feel better about themselves to think I have such an obvious weakness. They also like to think that you are physically weak because they can't stand someone as pretty as you being able to kick their butts. Idiots, all of them." Wow, Natsu was making a lot of great points and she was genuinely interested, she must have the easiest dare out of everyone. Though there will be no end to the teasing for the fact that he called her pretty.

Wait, Natsu called her pretty. She blushed deep red in response to his unintentional compliment. He was looking at her amused and she needed to get her blush under control ASAP.

"Have you really heard people talk about us like that?" He shrugged, but refused to meet her eye.

"Sometimes I overhear generalizations that people would think twice before saying to my face. Also, your doll comes with clothes that pop off, if that isn't defining a person based solely on their looks, I don't know what is. Do people think you want your clothes to come off? From standing next to you, I know that your clothes come off because you have taken so many hits and been in so many dangerous situations that they are literally torn to shreds along with your skin and you simply put on another outfit and keep fighting. Bottom line: people are idiots and no judge of who is wise." She was so going to hear it from Levy and Mira, but the compliment was wonderful all the same.

"Well, what if we talked about it and decided whether or not he had some good points. We can decide for ourselves then whether or not Plato is worth listening to."

"Sure,"

"He lived a really long time ago, so while he may have considered this as literal, people call it wisdom in the metaphor. Plato claims that when humans first started walking the Earth, we looked very different. We had two heads, four legs, four arms, and two hearts, but when the gods saw these creatures, they became afraid of their power and majesty. So, in an act of fear, they separated each human into two beings, what we look like today, and doomed us to forever looking for our other half. What do you think?" She could have explained the metaphor, but Natsu was good at cutting through crap and stating his point, she really wanted to see what he made of it.

"I think the gods were foolish," he said after a while, surprising her.

"Why?"

"Because the humans had no reason to hate the gods until they intervened. The gods were scared of their power? Well now they have reason to be, once the human finds their other half not only are they powerful again, but that anger is unleashed directly at anyone who tried to separate them. Beings that don't know pain have no reason to cause it."

An image came into her mind then, several actually, Natsu's face when he wanted to take on Phantom headquarters just the two of them, his face when the Minister of Defense had Lucy arrested, the peek of him she got through the fingers of Cain crushing her skull, and confidence as he comforted future Lucy. When they were together he considered them unstoppable, and when Lucy was about to be separated from him long term, he looked like he was the one dying.

"Acting out of fear is usually dumb," Lucy said while pondering the meaning of the memories, "Do you really think there is someone out there who when you are together have the power to challenge the gods?" He smirks at that.

"Of course," he said, "Don't you think that together we could take on any silly old gods? Why else would we be a team able to take on the toughest jobs." Wait, wait, wait, did he really just say that? Maybe he really didn't get the metaphor if he was saying things like that, because, if he was saying that, it might have to be one of the most romantic confessions she had ever heard of.

"So, is Plato wise?" Lucy asked, choosing to ignore the implications of what he just said.

"Yeah, I think he is. Now, nice talking, but Happy ran out of fish this morning so we need to go fishing again. See you tomorrow for a job, kay?" I nod and watch him leave with a Happy that had woken up when he heard the word fish.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Mira pulling the recording out of the machine and taking it to the back where all the other dare evidence was stored. She could only imagine what tomorrow's dare would be based off of that. At least the viewing was at her house tonight, she could kick them out before the teasing lasted longer than an hour.

*************Nalu******************

**A/N: So, I felt like uploading some more. This is dedicated to FTW FairyTailWonders who not only started following this story, but was the first to review the latest chapter of Never Soloing Again.**


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